6 Ways to Use Live Video Chat on your E-commerce Site

The shift to web-based services is expanding the potential for video chat at a rapid clip. In fact, a recent report from GigaOM estimates that by 2015 video chat will grow from 600 million video calls to over 30 billion.

Supporting this major change in how we communicate are 3 factors:

Widespread broadband adoption
Over one in four U.S. households now have a broadband connection. Faster Internet performance enables services such as over-the-top video streaming, online gaming and, of course, video chat.

Evolution of smart devices
Our phones, cars and other devices are getting smarter, with lightning-fast processors, high-resolution displays, and support for speedy data connections.

Video chat is now seen as a young, cool replacement for the phone call. In a few short years, however, as we become more comfortable with the technology, expect to see video chat take on new roles.

The power of video chat lies in the ability of the participants to detect subtle emotional nuances during conversations, resulting in better business conversation, better customer service, and better marketing.

6 ways to use video chat on your e-commerce website

Product demonstrations: Use live video chat to show a customer how to use a product. You can also have your customer service representatives watch while customers try to use a product they’ve already bought and provide tips.

Personal shoppers: Use live video chat as a proxy for a personal shopper. Your rep can hold products up to the camera to give the buyer a closer look, and help shoppers find suitable products in terms of color, size and style. You can even use video chat to walk your customer all the way through the check out process, and place an order.

Sales: For high-end purchases requiring serious consideration such as engagement rings, the customer often wants to speak with a knowledgeable advisor before making a decision. With live video chat, the advisor can find out more about the customer’s needs and present relevant options to move them closer to a buying decision, just as a sales rep would do in-store.

Collaboration: Use live video chat to collaborate with a customer on a complex purchase, such as helping him layout a new kitchen using design tools. Customer reps can share screens with the shoppers and direct them to pages and products they ask about.

Customer assistance: Video chat is ideal for answering common questions, responding to feedback, and dealing with complaints. You can even incorporate recorded video chat into your online FAQ section.

Consultations: For customers with complex needs and concerns, live video chat can be used to schedule one-on-one private consultations. For example, online pharmacies can employ video chat to allow customers to talk to registered pharmacists about drug interactions or side effects.

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Amanda Dhalla

Amanda works with some of the world’s largest companies to help improve conversion rates and online profitability. A seasoned e-commerce professional with more than 14 years in the field, Amanda has hands-on experience marketing, merchandising and managing multimillion dollar online stores. Amanda has appeared at Shop.org and been a regular contributor to leading e-commerce blog, Get Elastic. Her research has been cited by CNN, Wall Street Journal/Smart Money, Internet Retailer and Econsultancy, among others. Follow Amanda on Twitter: @amandadhalla